Who Is the Lawyer of the Century

In the first trial, which resulted in an acquittal, Earl Rogers, the legendary Los Angeles defense lawyer, represented Darrow.. ThE CRTRIA I believe that five criteria are relevant to de

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/llr

Part of the Law Commons

Recommended Citation

Gerald F Uelmen, Who Is the Lawyer of the Century, 33 Loy L.A L Rev 613 (2000)

Available at: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/llr/vol33/iss2/5

This Symposium is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews at Digital Commons @ Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School It has been accepted for inclusion in Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School For more information, please contact digitalcommons@lmu.edu

WHO IS THE LAWYER OF THE CENTURY?

Gerald F Uelmen*

I INTRODUCTION

Every lawyer should have a hero Mine has always beenClarence Darrow As a high school student, it was reading Darrow'sbiography by Irving Stone,' and reading the closing arguments in hisfamous trials,2 that inspired me to pursue a career as a lawyer I dis-covered I was not alone Thousands of other lawyers had found thesame inspiration and also looked to Darrow as their hero For fifteenyears I kept a portrait of Darrow hanging over my desk, and I fre-quently found myself gazing up and asking, "Would Clarence Dar-row turn down this case? What would Clarence Darrow have to sayabout that?" That's what heroes are for: to inspire us and to serve asrole models

Then, in 1993, Professor Geoffrey Cowan published an account

of the 1912 Los Angeles trials of Clarence Darrow for jury bribery.3The charges were brought in the wake of a case in which two labororganizers, the McNamara brothers, were accused of dynamiting theLos Angeles Times building on October 1, 1910 Police detectives

* Professor of Law, Santa Clara University School of Law ProfessorUelmen was co-counsel for the defense in two "trials of the century": the

"Pentagon Papers" trial of Daniel Ellsberg, and the trial of O.J Simpson He

would like to acknowledge the inspiration and insight provided by Yale misar, the Clarence Darrow Professor of Law at the University of MichiganSchool of Law, and Donald Fiedler, the Omaha, Nebraska actor and lawyer who has portrayed Clarence Darrow over one-hundred times, and who por- trayed William Jennings Bryan in the one-man play authored by Professor Uehnen Sam Kiamanesh, Santa Clara Law School class of 2000, assisted in the research for this article.

Ka-1 IRVING STONE, CLARENCE DARROW FOR THE DEFENSE (1941).

2 The best collection of arguments from Darrow's famous trials is still ATTORNEY FOR THE DAMNED (Arthur Weinberg ed., 1957).

3 GEOFFREY COWAN, THE PEOPLE V CLARENCE DARROW: THE BRIBERY

TRIAL OF AMERICA'S GREATEST LAWYER (1993)

613

LOYOLA OF LOS ANGELES LAWREVIEW [Vol 33:613observed Darrow's chief investigator, Bert Franklin, delivering a

$500 down payment to a juror at a busy Los Angeles intersection,although negotiations were under way to have the McNamara broth-ers change their plea to guilty One of the detectives who arrestedFranklin later testified that immediately after the money was deliv-ered to the juror, Darrow himself came running up and exclaimed,

"They're on to us, Bert."

Although Darrow was never convicted of jury bribery,4 sor Cowan presents convincing evidence that he was, in fact, guilty

Profes-as charged In a review of Professor Cowan's book, Professor Alan

M Dershowitz5 concluded that "the convincing evidence that hebribed jurors in the McNamara case forever disqualifies Darrowfrom being a role model for lawyers.",6 Proclaiming that there isnever any justification possible for corrupting the legal system, Der-showitz pronounced final judgment on Darrow: "He does not de-serve the mantle of honor he has proudly borne over most of thiscentury."'7 I briefly contemplated removing the portrait hanging over

my desk and looking for another hero

The purpose of this Essay is to identify the defense lawyers whomay have a legitimate claim to the mantle of honor as the "lawyer ofthe century," and assess those claims next to the claim of ClarenceDarrow Should Darrow continue to serve as a role model for thelawyers of the next century? I conclude that despite the evidencethat he may have been guilty of jury bribery, Clarence Darrow fullyredeemed himself in his subsequent quarter-century as a trial lawyer,and continues to inspire countless lawyers to pursue the highest ide-als of the legal profession He deserves to be recognized as the

4 Two separate trials resulted in an acquittal and a hung jury In the first trial, which resulted in an acquittal, Earl Rogers, the legendary Los Angeles defense lawyer, represented Darrow Joseph Ford, who later served as the first

dean of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, headed the prosecution See ald F Uelmen, The Lawyer Who Saved Clarence Darrow, CRIMINAL DEFENSE,

Ger-May-June 1983, at 28 Darrow represented himself at the second trial, in which the jury hung eight to four for conviction.

5 Professor Dershowitz is himself a contender for honors as "defense

lawyer of the century." See infra at Parts II, IV, VI, VII, & VIII.

6 Alan M Dershowitz, Tipping the Scales of Justice, WASHINGTON POST, May 16, 1993, at XI (reviewing COWAN, supra note 3).

7 Id.

THE LAWYER OF THE CENTURY

twentieth-century lawyer who, more than any other, should serve as arole model of what lawyers should strive to become

II ThE CRTRIA

I believe that five criteria are relevant to determine who should

be recognized as the lawyer of the century: (1) professional tion; (2) participation in high-profile trials, especially those ranked as

reputa-"trials of the century"; (3) public recognition; (4) current ity of information about the individual's career and accomplish-ments; and (5) adherence to ethical standards

accessibil-The criterion of professional reputation assesses the lawyer'sstanding among fellow lawyers Lawyers are likely to be most fa-miliar with the quality of a defense lawyer's work, and in a better po-sition to judge that quality This criterion relates to the lawyer'ssuitability as a role model for other lawyers Unlike public recogni-tion, which measures a lawyer's media "fame," the criterion of pro-fessional reputation measures the level of respect a lawyer hasachieved among those who share the same values Professionalreputation also relates to accessibility, but accessibility to the legalprofession rather than the public at large

The criterion of participation in high-profile trials requires that

we limit our candidates to those lawyers whose performances weretested in the demanding arena of close public scrutiny Many out-standing trial lawyers concluded successful careers without ever ap-pearing in a high-profile case The lawyer of the century, however,should be a lawyer who is remembered for his or her battles Law-yers are commonly identified by reference to the cases in which theyappeared This requirement will exclude many eminent trial lawyerswho practiced primarily in the civil arena Lawyers like Louis Nizerand Morris Dees would certainly rank high on a list of great Ameri-can trial lawyers, but the trials of the century have, with few excep-tions, been criminal trials To some extent, this simply reflects theprurient interest of the media The grisly details of maiming andmurder, and the drama of an individual on trial for his or her life orliberty, have always attracted more public attention than suits fordamages

This criterion will also exclude some truly great trial lawyerswhose practice was confined to one local region Moman Pruiett, for

January 2000]

616 LOYOLA OFLOS ANGELES LAWRE VIEW [Vol 33:613example, probably compiled the most impressive record of success indeath penalty cases of any lawyer in America From 1900 to 1935,

he defended 343 persons accused of murder Three-hundred four ofthem were acquitted not one was executed.8 But with rare excep-tions, Pruiett tried all his cases in the Indian Territory which becameOklahoma.

My list also excludes prosecutors Hopefully, someone will tempt to identify the "prosecutor of the century." Lawyers likeThomas E Dewey and Vincent Bugliosi have not gone unrecog-nized, but extolling the virtues of great prosecutors is beyond thescope of this undertaking, and a task best left to a lifelong prosecu-tor.9

at-The criterion of public recognition means that the lawyer of thecentury must be a name that is already familiar to the public Just aspublic familiarity helps define the trials of the century, it can help de-fine the lawyer of the century But participation in a "trial of thecentury" by itself does not guarantee public recognition that lasts.Who ever heard of Delphin Delmas?10 Who ever heard of Edward J.Reilly and C Lloyd Fisher?"

Some defense lawyers, of course, actively seek fame and rity Selecting the lawyer of the century, however, should not be re-duced to a process of identifying the "most famous" lawyer of thecentury We should inquire into how the lawyer achieved public

celeb-8 See Gerald F Uelmen, Moman Pruiett, Criminal Lawyer, CRIMINAL DEFENSE, May-June 1982, at 35 See also Pruiett's autobiography, MOMAN PRUiETr, CRIMINAL LAWYER (1944).

9 I have noted elsewhere that prosecutors in trials of the century usually fare better with the public than do defense lawyers For prosecutors, perform- ance in a trial of the century is often a prelude to political office or judicial ap- pointment See GERALD F UELMEN, LESSONS FROM THE TRIAL: THE PEOPLE

v O.J SIMPSON 206-07 (1996).

10 Delmas was the California lawyer who represented Harry Thaw in his first trial for the murder of New York architect Stanford White Delmas, with nineteen acquittals in nineteen murder cases, was known as "The Napoleon of

the Pacific Bar." He was a graduate of Santa Clara University See GERALD

LANGFORD, THE MURDER OF STANFORD WHITE (1962).

11 Reilly and Fisher were lead trial counsel for Bruno Richard Hauptmann,

convicted and executed for the kidnap-murder of Charles Lindbergh, Jr See

SIDNEY B WHIPPLE, THE TRIAL OF BRUNO RICHARD HAUPTMANN 390-541 (1937).

THE LAWYER OF THE CENTURY

fame Was it by virtue of his or her appearance in a long succession

of highly publicized cases? Was it by promotion and aggrandizement in boastful books and frequent appearances as atelevision "commentator"? Was it by participation in public contro-versies outside of the courtroom?

self-The criterion of current accessibility is closely related to publicrecognition, but it gives special attention to the ready availability ofinformation about a lawyer's career and achievements The lawyer

of the century should be an individual whose accomplishments arecelebrated, who can serve as a continuing source of inspiration andenlightenment A lawyer's fame may be short-lived if it is not pre-served in our libraries or enshrined in our theatres

The criterion of adherence to ethical standards is the most cult to assess, for two reasons First, the ethical standards to be ap-plied must be the standards of the criminal defense bar The publictends to associate lawyers with the clients they represent, and thegreatest defense lawyers may be those who take on the most unsa-vory clients Secondly, the ethical standards of the criminal defensebar have undergone a remarkable change in the course of the pastcentury We cannot apply contemporary standards in judging law-yers who practiced a century ago On the other hand, personal hon-esty, courage, loyalty to clients and respect for their confidences, andindependence are timeless values that will always define greatness inlawyers

diffi-II PROFESSIONAL REPUTATION

To assess professional reputation, three surveys were conducted,

in which respondents were asked to list five lawyers, living or dead,who the respondent considered to be "the greatest criminal de-fense lawyers of the twentieth century." Twenty-five responses wereobtained from lawyers attending the annual Bryan ScheckmeisterDeath Penalty College at Santa Clara University in August 1999,12

12 The Bryan Scheckmeister Death Penalty College is conducted each summer on the campus of Santa Clara University to train defense attorneys with pending pre-trial capital cases in the skills required to adequately repre- sent defendants charged with capital crimes The College is directed by Pro- fessor Ellen Krietzberg, Professor of Law, Santa Clara University School of Law.

January 2000]

LOYOLA OFLOSANGELESLA WREVIEW [Vol 33:613twenty-two responses were obtained from lawyers attending the an-nual convention of Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice in Sep-tember 1999, and twenty-five responses were obtained from law stu-dents enrolled in classes taught by the author at Santa ClaraUniversity School of Law in August 1999.

The death penalty lawyers ranked their top ten choices as lows:

THE LAWYER OF THE CENTURY

The criterion of professional reputation should be our startingpoint, and this criterion yields a list of ten lawyers who could becalled contenders for the honor of lawyer of the century It is thesame list I would compile without the benefit of surveys I havebeen an avid student of famous trials and legendary lawyers formany years, and have my own collection of transcripts, biographies,and trial accounts which occupy a sizable proportion of my leisurereading In teaching courses in Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure,Evidence, and Trial Advocacy, I have gained some familiarity withthe work of many of these lawyers I have also had the opportunityboth to meet many of these lawyers through active membership inCalifornia Attorneys for Criminal Justice and the National Associa-tion of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and to work directly with some ofthem in my own limited forays into the world of criminal defensepractice The ten lawyers we should consider contenders, ranked inthe order of the composite results of the three surveys, are:

620 LOYOLA OFLOS ANGELES LAWREVIEW [Vol 33:613

IV PARTICIPATON IN HIGH-PROFILE TRIALS

Appendix I to this Essay lists thirty-seven cases that have gained

so much public attention they were all called, at one time or another,trials of the century Each of the contenders on our list has partici-pated in at least one of these trials, with the sole exceptions of Thur-good Marshall and Gerry Spence

Thurgood Marshall is principally remembered for his work inthe landmark school desegregation cases, and his tenure as the firstblack Justice on the United States Supreme Court Often overlooked,however, is the fact that he represented dozens of criminal defen-dants in trials and appeals in courtrooms all across the United States.None, however, was a trial of the century Most were capital cases inwhich the defendants were black and penniless.'3 No one on our list

of contenders argued more cases before the United States SupremeCourt As Director and Chief Counsel for the NAACP Legal De-fense and Education Fund, Thurgood Marshall argued a total ofthirty-two cases before the highest Court, and won twenty-nine ofthem.1 4 He argued many more as Solicitor General While Brown v Board of Education' 5 has a strong claim to being the "case of thecentury" to emerge from the United States Supreme Court, it was not

a trial that captured national attention The strategic planning and

appellate strategy that preceded the landmark decision are admirably

presented in Simple Justice, 16 which describes the key role ThurgoodMarshall played in achieving a successful result

Gerry Spence served as lead counsel in many high-profile trials,including the Karen Silkwood case, the trial of Randy Weaver for theRuby Ridge F.B.I stand-off, and the criminal trial of Imelda Marcos,but much of his public acclaim is attributable to his high visibility as

an author and legal commentator He also devotes considerable

13 See Gerald F Uehnen, Justice Thurgood Marshall and the Death alty: A Former Criminal Defense Lawyer on the Supreme Court, 26 ARIZ ST L.J 403 (1994).

Pen-14 See 4 THE JUSTICES OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT

1789-1969, at 3069 (Leon Friedman & Fred L Israel eds., 1969) [hereinafter JUSTICES].

15 347 U.S 483 (1954).

16 RICHARD KLUGER, SIMPLE JUSTICE: THE HISTORY OF BROWN v.

BOARD OF EDUCATION AND BLACK AMERICA'S STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY

(Vintage Books 1977).

THE LAWYER OF THE CENTURY

energy to inspiring and training trial lawyers in the skills he hasmastered His high standing in terms of professional reputation sug-gests that his message resonates among today's lawyers, and thatmessage is remarkably similar to the message conveyed by ClarenceDarrow: that lawyers must take up the cause of the underdogs inmodern society

Three of the contenders appeared in a single trial on the list:

Abramson (Menendez), Cochran (O.J Simpson), and Williams

(Hoffa) Four of the contenders appeared in two trial-of-the-century

cases: Bailey in the Patty Hearst and O.J Simpson cases,

Dershow-itz in the same two cases, Kunstler in the Chicago Seven trial and asappellate counsel for Jack Ruby, and Tigar in the Chicago Seven andOklahoma bombing trials However, in terms of the sheer number oftrials of the century in which he participated, no one comes close toClarence Darrow He defended Bill Haywood in 1907, theMcNamara brothers in 1911, Loeb and Leopold in 1924, and ThomasScopes in 1925

In early 1999, NBC's Today Show conducted a public survey to

determine which of the twentieth century's high-profile trials should

be labeled the trial of the century The Today Show received nearly

4000 responses, and the results demonstrated much more public miliarity with recent televised trials than with the historical cases thatoccurred earlier in the century The top five choices for trial of thecentury, with the percentage of votes earned, were as follows:'7

The high ranking given to the Clinton Impeachment "trial" can only

be attributed to the fact that the trial was going on while the surveywas being conducted It can only loosely be called a trial, and willsurely fade in public memory as quickly as last winter's snow

The fact that a trial in which a lawyer advocated is picked as

the trial of the century should not, of course, make that lawyer the

17 The survey results can be found on the Internet at

<http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/Today survey.html>.January 2000]

LOYOLA OFLOS ANGELES LA WREVIEW [Vol 33:613lawyer of the century But, the fact that the O.J Simpson trial is thepopular choice for trial of the century means that the claims of

"dream team" members F Lee Bailey, Johnnie Cochran, and AlanDershowitz must be carefully weighed against that of Darrow

Despite the Simpson trial's status as the popular choice, there is

a compelling argument to be made that the high-profile trials inwhich Clarence Darrow participated have stronger claims to the label

of trial of the century Professor Douglas Linder makes a persuasiveargument that the true trial of the century was the Scopes trial be-cause of its enduring visibility, its "superstar" participants on bothsides, the brilliant display of cross-examination skills during the tes-timony of William Jennings Bryan, its subsequent dramatization, andthe important competing ideas that the trial implicated.8 While theScopes trial occurred in an era preceding the mass media saturationmade possible by modem television, the newspaper coverage wasintense, and it was the first trial ever broadcast by live radio from thecourtroom The trial's portrayal on Broadway and in the popular

film Inherit the Wind, although grossly inaccurate, imprinted an

in-delible image of Darrow on the American consciousness.19

One could plausibly argue, however, that the O.J Simpson trialcaptured a wider audience, showcased its own galaxy of superstars,featured some brilliant cross-examination and oratorical splendor,and inspired a glut of books unmatched by any other trial on the list.Where the Simpson trial falls short is on whether anything importantwas at issue, other than the liberty of a celebrity The racial issueswere confronted only in a muted and tangential fashion The Scopestrial, on the other hand, featured a pitched battle between science andreligion, between the Biblical story of creation and the Darwiniantheory of evolution The issue was far from settled by the Scopestrial, but the trial served to define the issues for a debate that contin-ues to this day.20 Further, books are still written today regarding the

18 See id Professor Linder, who has compiled a valuable Web page on

famous trials, offers his assessment of "What is the trial of the century?" on the

THE LAWYER OF THE CENTURY

impact of the Scopes trial nearly seventy-five years after its sion.2'

conclu-Apart from the Scopes trial, however, the other trials of thecentury in which Darrow participated also involved highly importantissues, and are still the subject of considerable study and scrutiny.For example, the 1907 trial of Bill Haywood was a "showdown"between the forces of organized labor and capital that was closelyfollowed throughout the nation The victim was a former governor

of Idaho, and the defendant was one of the most colorful characters

in American history The saga was recently recounted in an standing narrative by the late J Anthony Lukas, a Pulitzer Prize win-ning author.2 2 The McNamara trial arose from what was widely la-beled the "crime of the century," the detonation of a bomb thatdestroyed the Los Angeles Times building and killed twenty work-ers As noted in the Introduction of this Essay, Professor GeoffreyCowan recounted the events of the McNamara case and the subse-quent trials of Darrow for bribing jurors in a critically acclaimedbook published in 1993.23 The Loeb and Leopold case was the sub-ject of an excellent contemporary account,24 as well as a novel whichwas made into a film starring Orson Welles as Darrow.25 Darrow'sclassic plea against capital punishment in that case is widely avail-able

out-One might argue that the performance of the O.J Simpson fenders demonstrated trial skills superior to those demonstrated byDarrow in his trials of the century While Darrow won an outrightacquittal for Haywood, he entered pleas of guilty for the McNamarasand for Loeb and Leopold, and lost the Scopes verdict But winning

de-21 See, e.g., EDWARD J LARSON, SUMMER FOR THE GODS: THE SCOPES

TRIAL AND AMERICA'S CONTINUING DEBATE OVER SCIENCE AND RELIGION

(1997) Larson's account won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for History

22 See J ANTHONY LUKAS, BIG TROUBLE (1997); see also DAVID H.GROVER, DEBATERS AND DYNAMITERS: THE STORY OF THE HAYWOOD TRIAL

(1964)

23 See COWAN, supra note 3.

24 See MAUREEN MCKERNAN, THE AMAZING CRIME AND TRIAL OF

LEOPOLD AND LOEB (1924)

25 See COMPULSION (Darryl F Zanuck Productions, Inc., 1959) The film

is currently available on video from Fox Video, Inc in their "Studio Classic" series.

January 2000]

624 LOYOLA OFLOS ANGELES LA WREIYEW [Vol 33:613

or losing cannot be the principal measure of performance in thesecases The guilty pleas in both the McNamara and Loeb and Leo-pold cases were part of a calculated and successful strategy to avoidthe death penalty, and the Scopes conviction was reversed on appeal.Three other trials have strong claims to recognition as the trial ofthe century The Lindbergh kidnapping trial captured enormouspublic attention, especially since it took more than two years to iden-tify a suspect Whether justice was achieved has been the subject ofongoing debate ever since The Nuremberg War Crimes trial wascertainly a defining moment of the twentieth century, since it was thefirst public exposure of the horrors of the Holocaust The ChicagoSeven trial will always stand as a monument to the hypocrisy ofAmerican political leadership during the era of the Vietnam War.None of these trials, however, really served as a showcase of law-yerly skills What distinguishes the trials of the century in whichClarence Darrow participated is that his presence was the most im-

portant element that made them trials of the century He led the

pa-rade of public attention into the courtrooms where he performed, andhis performances usually lived up to their advance billing

Accordingly, with respect to the level of participation in profile trials, especially those labeled "trials of the century,"Clarence Darrow's record surpasses that of any other contender forrecognition as lawyer of the century Regardless of what trial isdeemed the trial of the century,2 6 no lawyer who appeared in Ameri-can courtrooms during the twentieth century matched the sustainedperformance of Clarence Darrow in the glare of public scrutiny,spread over a forty-five year period

high-V PUBLIC RECOGNITION

The databanks for online research provide a simple tool to gaugecurrent "fame." The News Library of Lexis-Nexis, for example, in-

cludes full text for major newspapers, including the New York Times,

26 Having participated as counsel in two trials of the century myself, my

own pick for the trial of century is the 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes trials.

The horror of the Holocaust will qualify as the crime of the millennium, not just the twentieth century The trial that exposed it and seared its images on the consciousness of the world also established a precedent that will reverber- ate in future centuries.

THE LAWYER OF THE CENTURY the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Washington Post Getting your name in the newspaper is certainly one measure

of fame, although it does not provide century-wide coverage As aresult, lawyers who made their mark earlier in the twentieth centuryare not likely to appear in the news with the frequency of lawyerscurrently engaged in high-profile cases Thus, this device is more ameasure of current notoriety than lasting fame Nonetheless, it pro-vides some useful comparisons

In a Lexis-Nexis search conducted July 28, 1999, the number ofnews stories in which our top ten contenders have appeared in theALLNWS library breaks down as follows:

27 Nearly half of the news articles mentioning Darrow were reviews of the

David W Rintels play, Clarence Darrow, which is still widely performed Avideo of Henry Fonda's memorable portrayal of Darrow on Broadway in thisplay in 1974 recently became commercially available from Kino Video,

<http://www.kino.com>

January 2000]

LOYOLA OFLOSANGELESLA WREVIEW [Vol 33:613icon One recent news article was a mock interview of ClarenceDarrow as to how he would have handled the O.J Simpson trial,utilizing quotations from his autobiography.28

The positions of Gerry Spence and Leslie Abramson at the tom of this list may also seem surprising, since they are among themost recognizable lawyers in America The explanation, of course,

bot-is that both achieved that recognizability as televbot-ision commentators.The frequency of their television appearances is not reflected in theLexis-Nexis database

Some might suggest that self-generated publicity should reduce

a lawyer's stature, rather than raise it; that self-promotion is seemly" or "unprofessional." While some of the contenders on ourlist might be deemed more aggressive than others in this regard, all

"un-of them have engaged in unabashed self-promotion, and all "un-of themappear to have relished the spotlight Clarence Darrow thoroughlyenjoyed being the center of controversy, and when he wasn't in thecourtroom, he was frequently on the stage, lecturing and debating is-sues such as capital punishment and evolution The lawyer of the

century should be a public figure, with a public persona.

Not all lawyers have the appetite for celebrity For many cellent attorneys, public recognition may be a hindrance to effectiveand competent representation of their clients They prefer to workbehind the scenes Edward Bennett Williams achieved much of hissuccess as a Washington "insider," avoiding media attention unless itcould be utilized as a tool on behalf of his clients Johnnie Cochran,

ex-on the other hand, combined his law practice with a televisiex-on career.The fact remains, however, that both are recognized by the public asgreat lawyers because of their courtroom performances, and the samecan be said of every lawyer on our list of contenders

With rare exceptions, all of the news stories concerning good Marshall related to his service as an Associate Justice of theU.S Supreme Court, rather than his work as a trial lawyer Four ofthe contenders on the list are deceased: Darrow, Kunstler, Marshall,and Williams While Marshall, Kunstler, and Williams surpassedDarrow in frequency of news stories, all three died during the

Thur-28 See David Andrew Lloyd, Expert Advice from Grave: Clarence Darrow Joins Simpson 'Dream Team', THE PLAIN DEALER, May 28, 1995, at J.

THE LA WRER OF THE CENTURY

approximate fifteen-year period covered by the ALLNWS library,and a substantial portion of the news coverage devoted to them wasobituaries and stories related to their deaths.29

In terms of public recognition, it can certainly be said that all ofthe names on the list are readily recognizable public figures WhileClarence Darrow currently ranks seventh on this list, the list is only ameasure of current public recognition at the close of the century.The enduring nature of Darrow's celebrity is unique The fame ofothers has yet to meet the test of time Darrow has met it and en-dured

VI CuRRENT ACCESSIBILITY OF INFORMATION

The lawyer of the century should be one whose life is an openbook, to be read by future generations seeking inspiration and en-lightenment In our modem world, a movie or a Web page maymake the lawyer even more accessible than a library book To whatextent is information readily available in the media about the con-tenders on our list? Every lawyer on the list, with the regrettable ex-ception of Michael Tigar, is the subject of a readily accessible biog-raphy or autobiography Many of them also authored booksbrimming with advice for other lawyers or commenting on currentsocial issues

Leslie Abramson's autobiography, co-authored with Richard

Flaste, was published in 1997.30 It is a candid and lively account of

her life and path-breaking career, including a colorful account of heryears as a Deputy Public Defender in Los Angeles There is very lit-tle about which she does not have a strong opinion, and her account

of the Menendez trials is a heavy dose of the blistering advocacy thatcharacterizes her courtroom performances As the only female onour list of contenders, Ms Abramson provides revealing glimpsesinto how she managed to balance marriage and motherhood with afast-paced career as a top-ranked trial lawyer

F Lee Bailey's career has included too many fascinating cases

to pack into one book, so he has authored three for popular

29 Thurgood Marshall died in 1993, William Kunstler in 1997, and

Ed-ward Bennett Williams in 1988

30 See LESLIE ABRAMSON & RICHARD FLASTE, THE DEFENSE IS READY: LIFE IN THE TRENCHES OF CRIMINAL LAW (1997).

January 2000]

LOYOLA OFLOS ANGELES LAWREVIEW [Vol 33:613

audiences The best was his first, The Defense Never Rests 3 1 It

chronicles his representation of Dr Sam Shepard, the "Great mouth Mail Robbery," the Boston Strangler, and Dr Carl Cappolino.What is most remarkable is that Bailey handled all of these cases

Ply-during his first ten years out of law school His second book, For the Defense, 32 focuses principally on his representation of Captain ErnestMedina, the army officer who commanded the troops accused of the

My Lai massacre in Vietnam, and his own defense when he was dicted for mail fraud with a former client, Glenn Turner More re-cently, Bailey packed his years of accumulated wisdom into a book

in-aimed at law students and young lawyers, entitled To Be a Trial Lawyer 3 The book includes an appendix listing and describingtwenty-nine murder cases in which Mr Bailey was engaged prior tothe O.J Simpson trial, claiming a rate of conviction in those cases ofonly 4% Bailey never wrote a book about the Patty Hearst trial,though, an embarrassment he would probably prefer to forget.34Johnnie Cochran's autobiography,35 published in the wake of the

O.J Simpson trial, is more than an account of the Simpson trial.

Cochran describes his efforts on behalf of Geronimo Pratt, his work

as a prosecutor, and his extraordinary success in handling civil casesalleging police misconduct Cochran's three-year run on a nightlytelevision show for Court TV offered trenchant commentary on cur-rent legal controversies The show was cancelled September 30,1999

Clarence Darrow authored an autobiography five years before

he died,36 and has been the subject of two excellent biographiessince.7 One of the most popular books about Darrow, however, is a

31 F LEE BAILEY & HARVEY ARONSON, THE DEFENSE NEVER RESTS(1971)

32 F LEE BAILEY & JOHN GREENYA, FOR THE DEFENSE (1975).

33 F LEE BAILEY, TO BE A TRIAL LAWYER (2d ed 1994)

34 Patty Hearst; a kidnap victim who allegedly aided her kidnappers in asubsequent crime spree, was convicted and sentenced to prison after a trial inwhich she repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-

incrimination during her testimony The conviction was affirmed in United States v Hearst, 563 F.2d 1331 (9th Cir 1977).

35 See JOHNNIE L COCHRAN, JR & TIM RuTTEN, JOURNEY TO JUSTICE(1996) Co-author Tim Rutten is married to Leslie Abramson

36 See CLARENCE DARROW, THE STORY OF MY LIFE (1932).

37 See IRVING STONE, CLARENCE DARROW FOR THE DEFENSE (1941);

THE LAWYER OF THE CENTURY

collection of the arguments he presented in his most famous cases,edited by Arthur Weinberg.38 A website devoted to Darrow also in-cludes excerpts from his writings and speeches, a comprehensive list

of books about his career, and links to related websites.3 9 Professor

Douglas Linder also maintains The Clarence Darrow Home Page 4 °

The most rewarding way to encounter Clarence Darrow, however, is

by seeing the one-man play about his life, now available on videostarring Henry Fonda,4' or by watching the fictionalized portrayals

enacted by Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind, or by Orson Welles in Compulsion Three of America's most accomplished actors, all now

deceased, have left us with memorable portrayals of Clarence row in the courtroom

Dar-Certainly the most prolific author among our contenders is vard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz He writes almost as compul-

Har-sively as he speaks Like Bailey, his best book was his first, The Best Defense 42 And the best part of that book is his description ofthe work he did with F Lee Bailey in Bailey's defense of the mailfraud charges lodged against him, and in the defense of Patty Hearst.Dershowitz deftly critiques Bailey's performance in the Hearst trial

without offering any personal judgment In Reversal of Fortune,

Dershowitz describes his brilliant presentation of the appeal on half of Claus Von Bulow, a performance that became a popular filmwith the same title.43 Jeremy Irons won an Academy Award as bestactor for his portrayal of Von Bulow, but the portrayal of Dershowitz

be-by Ron Silver was equally outstanding Dershowitz played a keyrole in fashioning the strategy utilized in the defense of O.J Simp-

son, and his book Reasonable Doubts offers a compelling defense of

the verdict.44 Dershowitz has also authored two popular novels45 and

KEVIN TIERNEY, DARROW: A BIOGRAPHY (1979).

38 See ATTORNEY FOR THE DAMNED, supra note 2.

39 See <http://ourworld.compuserve.con/homepages/delao/darrow.htm>.

40 See supra note 17.

41 See supra note 27.

42 ALAN M DERSHOWITZ, THE BEST DEFENSE (1982).

43 See ALAN M DERSHOWITz, REVERSAL OF FORTUNE (1986); REVERSAL

OF FORTUNE (Warner Bros 1990)

44 See ALAN M DERSHOwITZ, REASONABLE DOUBTS (1996)

45 See ALANM DERSHOWITz, THE ADVOCATE'S DEVIL (1994); ALAN M DERSHOWTZ, JUST REVENGE (1999).

January 2000]

LOYOLA OFLOSANGELES LAWREVIEW V

a number of provocative commentaries on a wide variety of socialissues.46

William Kunstler authored or co-authored a total of twelvebooks,47 several of which provide valuable commentary on his work

as a lawyer My Life as a Radical Lawyer 48 is remarkable for itscandor Kunstler reviews every aspect of his life with honesty and

insight In The Trial of Leonard Peltier, 49 Kunstler's seventeen-yeareffort to free the leader of the American Indian Movement is de-scribed Although key ballistics evidence that discredited the prose-cution's theory of the case was withheld, the conviction for murder-

ing an FBI agent was upheld In Trials and Tribulations, 5 " Kunstler

describes how his participation in the Chicago Seven trial radicalizedhim Two excellent accounts of the Chicago Seven trial by otherauthors also describe the incredible obstacles the lawyers in thatcase had to overcome to achieve justice for their clients.51 Kunstler,more than any of our other contenders, resembled Darrow in both

46 See ALAN M DERSHOWITz, ABUSE EXCUSE (1994); ALAN M DERSHOWITZ, CHUTZPAH (1992); ALAN M DERSHOWITZ, CONTRARY TO POPULAR OPINION (1994); ALAN M DERSHowiTz, TAKING LIBERTIES: ADECADE OF HARD CASES, BAD LAWS, AND BUM RAPS (1989); ALAN M DERSHOWITZ, SEXUAL MCCARTHYISM: CLINTON, STARR, AND THE EMERGING

CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS (1998); ALAN M DERSHOWITZ, THE VANISHING

AMERICAN JEW (1997).

47 See WILLIAM M KUNSTLER, AND JUSTICE FOR ALL (1963); WILLIAM

M KUNSTLER, BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT (1961); WILLIAM M KUNSTLER, FIRST DEGREE (1960); WILLIAM M KUNSTLER, THE HALL-MILLS

MURDER CASE: THE MINISTER AND THE CHOIR SINGER (1980); WILLIAM M.

KUNSTLER, HINTS & ALLEGATIONS: THE WORLD IN POETRY AND PROSE

(1994); WILLIAM M KUNSTLER, TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS (1985); WILLIAM

M KUNSTLER AND SHEILA ISENBERG, MY LIFE As A RADICAL LAWYER

(1994); WILLIAM M KUNSTLER AND SHEILA ALAN ISENBERG, REBEL AT THE BAR: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY (1994); GARY L FRANCIONE, ANIMALS, PROPERTY, AND THE LAW (1995) (forward by William M Kunstler); BRUCE JACKSON, DISORDERLY CONDUCT (1992) (forward by William M Kunstler); MAURICE KENNY, GREYHOUNDING THIS AMERICA (1988) (forward by Wil-liam M Kunstler); JIM MESSERSCHMIDT, THE TRIAL OF LEONARD PELTIER (1983) (forward by William M Kunstler).

48 See KUNSTLER & ISENBERG, supra note 47

49 See MESSERSCHMIDT, supra note 47.

50 See KUNSTLER, supra note 47.

51 See JASON EPSTEIN, THE GREAT CONSPIRACY TRIAL (1970); JOHN

SCHULTZ, MOTION WILL BE DENIED (1972) (reprinted under the title THE CHICAGO CONSPIRACY TRIAL in 1993 by Da Capo Press).

[Vol 33:613

THE LAWYER OF THE CENTURY

substance and style and took up the causes Darrow would certainlyhave espoused We can still see Kunstler in a courtroom today, in

the Spike Lee film Malcolm X, where Kunstler played the judge.

Over forty biographies of Thurgood Marshall have been lished, many for children Most of them focus on his career as a Jus-tice of the United States Supreme Court, although there are excellentaccounts of his work as Chief Counsel for the NAACP prior to hisappointment to the bench.52 That work included numerous deathpenalty cases at both the trial and appellate level Marshall's expo-sure to the way the death penalty operated "in the trenches" wasunique No one else on the Supreme Court, and no one since,brought such experience to bear in the writing of Supreme Courtopinions

pub-In one case, Marshall was trial counsel for an African-Americanman accused of raping a white woman The prosecution offered alife sentence in exchange for a plea of guilty Marshall conveyed theoffer to his client, who exclaimed: "Plead guilty to what? Rapingthat woman? You gotta be kidding I won't do it." Marshall laterrecounted, "That's when I knew I had an innocent man." Marshalltold that story to his fellow justices, concluding, "The guy was foundguilty and sentenced to death But he never raped that woman." Hepaused, flicking his hand, and added, "Oh well, he was just a Negro."

In a tribute to Justice Marshall after his retirement, Justice dra Day O'Connor reflected that stories like these "would, by and by,perhaps change the way I see the world." 3 While we're still waitingfor the "by and by," it is clear that Thurgood Marshall's experiences

San-as a criminal defense lawyer strongly influenced his work San-as a preme Court Justice and at least entertained his fellow justices Thehundreds of opinions he authored as a Justice on the Supreme Courtshould be included in the legacy that keeps Thurgood Marshall ac-cessible today

Su-Gerry Spence is immediately recognized by his buckskin fringe,and is well known to television audiences for commentary on pend-ing cases He is also a popular author, and his books recount a legal

52 See, e.g., JUSTICES, supra note 14; KLUGER, supra note 16.

53 Sandra Day O'Connor, Thurgood Marshall: The Influence of a teur, 44 STAN L REv 1217, 1220 (1992).

Racon-January 2000]

632 LOYOLA OFLOS ANGELES LAWRE VIEW [Vol 33:613

career with strong parallels to Darrow's.54 Clarence Darrow doned a career as a railroad lawyer to take up the cause of EugeneDebs and his railworkers' union Spence was a lawyer once retained

aban-by insurance companies who became a feared nemesis of insurancecompanies Equally confident in civil or criminal cases, Spence cul-tivates the image of the lone gunfighter "Dream teams" are not hiscup of tea His writing is not confined to spinning stories about hiscases, either He offers practical advice on a wide variety of issues."Michael Tigar became a familiar figure during the trial of theOklahoma City bombing case, where his spirited defense of TerryNichols avoided a death penalty His handling of the media was atextbook example of the lessons taught by Edward Bennett Williams,his mentor not flashy, but solid and credible Tigar argued thelandmark case before the United States Supreme Court dealing withthe limits the First Amendment permits on out-of-court advocacy bylawyers.56 Tigar affects a folksy, cowboy boots style, but he is abrilliant scholar with a commanding grasp of history and politicalscience His two books on trial skills for lawyers are filled withexamples of brilliant advocacy from his own work, as well as that ofEdward Bennett Williams.58

Edward Bennett Williams was very careful and selective aboutthe cases he accepted Had he chosen to do so, he could have easilysurpassed Darrow in the number of trials of the century he took on

He also was guarded and circumspect in his public commentary His

only book, One Man's Freedom, is a classic description of the duty

of a criminal defense attorney to take up the cause of the ular and despised, even at the personal cost of being identified withone's client.59 Williams's clients included Senator Joseph McCarthy,racketeer Frank Costello, and Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa.Since his death, two biographies of Edward Bennett Williams have

unpop-54 See GERRY SPENCE, THE MAKING OF A COUNTRY LAWYER (1996);

GERRY SPENCE & ANTHONY POLK, GUNNING FOR JUSTICE (1982).

55 See GERRY SPENCE, HOW TO ARGUE AND WIN EvERY TIME (1995);O.J.: THE LAST WORD (1997)

56 See Gentile v State Bar ofNevada, 501 U.S 1030 (1991).

57 See MICHAEL TIGAR, LAW AND THE RISE OF CAPITALISM (1990).

58 See MICHAEL TIGAR, EXAMINING WITNESSES (1993); MICHEAL TIGAR, PERSUASION: THE LITIGATOR'S ART (1999).

59 See EDWARD BENNETT WILLIAMS, ONE MAN'S FREEDOM (1962).